


Wonderful Tonight

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Love, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Songfic, an end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 03:25:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17931932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: He hoped she knew and that, one day, she would find someone new to tell her.





	Wonderful Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Another songfic, this one of Wonderful Tonight.
> 
> This is set at the other end of a life from Lady In Red (no need to read it first).

Dave can’t help but stop as he’s getting dressed and watch her as she flits between the closet and the bathroom. For him, the suit is easy but for her, it seems there are simply too many choices. He has his preference, and if she doesn’t pick soon, he’ll make a suggestion, but for now… For now, he simply waits and watches.

Theirs was a relationship that had drawn raised brows when it’d started, but it had never been like that between them. Oh, he loved her, he wasn’t denying that, but it was a love that simply was, without the need for grand acts of passion between them.

Penelope crossed to the closet again and, this time, he catches her arm. “Pen…”

Her bright blue eyes land on his face. “What’s wrong?”

It always makes his breath catch, the way she sees into him. “The first one.” He gestures with his chin to the dresses hanging on the door. “Please, for me.”

Her hand cups his jaw, thumb caressing the warm swell of his cheek, before she simply nods and pulls away, dropping her robe as she takes down the dress.

He couldn’t count anymore the years that had filled the time they’d shared, a single night out had set them on a path so many years ago, a path that had led to this. Sinking onto the bed, he works on tying his tie as he watches her in the reflection of the bathroom mirror, makeup first and then hair sweeping back but staying down, the way he liked it, without all of the spray and things that kept it from being soft. He loved being able to bury his hands in it as he holds her close.

“Do I look okay?”

He blinks, looking up and taking her in. “You look wonderful.” Her smile is soft as she closes the distance between them. “But then you always look wonderful, My Darling.”

“We don’t have to go out, Dave.”

“I want to. It’s been so long.”

“Okay.” She leans in, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek before pulling away to find her shoes.

He knows why she’s concerned, but for right now, he doesn’t want it on their minds. There will be enough time for that later, when he can no longer fight her on it. When she’s ready, he offers his arm, both of them pretending it’s to help him lead her instead of the other way around now.

At the party, they see friends he hasn’t seen in a while, friends he’s tried hard not to wonder about never seeing again. He’s always been able to read a room, however, and while he’s busing watching them, they’re busy taking in the woman on his arm. She’s always made a stunning impression, turned heads with her beauty.

He’s not sure she even knows.

They make it through the dinner before he slips, and she notices he’s struggling. Taking his hand in hers, she is careful not to draw attention as she helps him with his things. “Do you feel okay?”

He looks up into her eyes and his voice catches a moment as he wonders who will be there to ask her that question down the road. “I feel wonderful.”

Her eyes soften and he knows, then, that she knows it’s a lie. That he wants them to live the lie a little longer and so, despite her nature to fix things, she simply nods and lets him have it. The tears that prick up a moment later startle him and he hurries to hide them from anyone. He knows they wouldn’t understand, would blame it on the thing they do not discuss, but he knows that this time, it’s not the case. He realizes, tonight more than ever before, just how much he loves her and she him and he wonders if she’ll ever realize the true depths of his feelings.

When the dinner finishes and they are on the dance floor, he can’t hide the pain anymore from her. The room starts spinning and he has to keep his eyes closed and he knows, he can feel it in her touch, that they are leaving and that he will never get to come back again. He can tell she knows too, because when he softly asks for _just one more_ , she gives in without any fight. And maybe that’s the worst part of it all.

At the car after, she settles him into the passenger seat and as he waits, he forces his eyes open just long enough to catch her tucking herself behind the wheel. She’ll take care of him, she always has. It’s too much pain to try and stay aware or the drive home, so he gives in, fearing all the while that there won’t be another moment, a right moment, to say the words he wants to get out.

Finally, eventually, she is helping him into his bed, and he knows that the chances are fleeting. Catching her hand as she reaches for his light, he squeezes it to draw her attention. “Darling. You were wonderful tonight.” He can tell by her eyes that she knows what this is, but even now, they won’t do what is normal or expected, instead she leans in, still dressed in the dress he’d chosen, and brushes a kiss to his lips, their first even though he doesn’t think to kiss her back. As she stands, he realizes that he will be the one carrying the regret, even in the dim light, he can see in her face what it is meant to be.

“Sleep well, My Darling.” She cups his face again one last time before turning out the light and slipping the door shut.

The room grows darker, despite the moonlight coming in through the window, and Dave prays as it takes him in, he prays she truly understands how wonderful he always thought she was.


End file.
